24/7 Wall St.

The market was very volatile this week, posting some of the first significant losses in quite some time. With slower than expected growth in Europe and banking issues in Portugal rattling traders and investors, profit takers were out in force.

One interesting item showed up in our 24/7 research database this week while scanning for insider buying and selling. Some big institutional owners stepped up to the plate and added to their already significant positions.

TRI Pointe Homes Inc. (NYSE: TPH) recently acquired Weyerhaeuser’s homebuilder, WRECO, and became a substantially larger homebuilder through the transaction. This must have pleased Carlson Capital in Dallas, who is already a registered 10% owner of the company. It bought an additional 1,148, 849 shares, ranging in price from $15.50 to $15.55. The tab for that huge buy came in at $17.8 million. TRI Pointe shares traded lower Friday and ended at $14.81.

PHH Corp. (NYSE: PHH) also had an institutional 10% holder come in and add to a position. Citadel G.P. bought a total of 513,780 shares, ranging in price from $23.84 to $23.96. The total cost for that purchase rang the register to the tune of $12.3 million. PHH recently announced the sale of its fleet management services business for a tidy $1.4 billion. That is the kind of liquidity event that bolsters the faith of a large shareholder. PHH shares closed trading at $23.63 Friday.

Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BCRH) shows up again on our 24/7 insider buying screens. Montpelier RE Holdings, which is yet another 10% holder, bought 68,600 shares of the stock, priced between $19.67 and $19.90, for a total of $1.4 million. Blue Capital ended the week at $19.45.

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. (NYSE: LTS) also shows up again on the top insider buying ledger for the third week in a row. Once again, two directors, including one that is a 10% owner of the company, were buying stock. A total of 320,000 shares were snapped up, at prices ranging from $3.40 to $3.54. Shares closed Friday at $3.72.

Dycom Industries Inc. (NYSE: DY) wraps up this week’s top insider buying names. A company director bought 15,000 shares of the stock between $30.50 and $31.13 for a total purchase price of $500,000. He maybe should have waited until later in the week as shares were trading at Friday’s close at $29.37.

Institutional insider buying, especially in size, is always a telltale sign for investors watching insider transactions. The big purchases made this week may require some close watching by readers interested in these names.

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